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3h ago

Punjab Tightens Curbs on Early Stubble Burning With 12 FIRs Filed

An 8,000-member Parali Protection Force is now tracking incidents through a state app using remote-sensing coordinates.

Smoke billows as a farmer burns stubble in a paddy field on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab on Saturday. (PTI)
Stubble burning: Punjab records 27 incidents in 5 days; Govt intensifies awareness campaign
The season of farm fires has already begun in Punjab with the first blaze reported from Amritsar on September 16. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)
A farmer burns straw stubble after a harvest in a paddy field on the outskirts of Amritsar on Saturday. Stubble burning, especially after the paddy harvest in October and November, has been a significant contributor to air pollution in Delhi and the NCR.

Overview

  • Monitoring since September 15 has logged 48 crop-residue fires, led by Amritsar with 32 cases, followed by Patiala with seven and Tarn Taran with five after the first blaze on September 16.
  • Police have registered 12 FIRs — 11 in Amritsar — under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and no arrests have been made.
  • Punjab has designated 663 hotspot villages across Sangrur, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Moga, Barnala, Mansa, Tarn Taran and Faridkot based on three years of incident data.
  • Officials have marked 13 red entries in land records and levied environmental compensation totaling about ₹1.10 lakh in 24 cases, with partial recovery reported.
  • The task force is verifying fires via PRSC-provided coordinates and the ATR app across 11,624 villages, while farmer unions criticize penalties and authorities continue awareness drives and promote residue-management machinery.